After the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the New Year is getting closer and closer.
People who have worked hard for a year began to prepare all kinds of delicious and fun things.
Make new clothes for the children at home, buy some New Year pictures, and some firecrackers.
Every time I come back from an outing, the children gather around me enthusiastically and chatter about what they bought.
Every household is also busy preparing for the New Year, killing New Year pigs, making tofu, cleaning, unpacking and washing bedding, plastering walls, and baking and steaming steamed buns.
The Xu family has almost the same process, but since they don’t raise pigs this year, they skip the step of killing pigs.
On the other hand, the second brigade killed twenty large fat pigs and distributed some of the meat to each household.
The second brigade distributed the meat, but the Forestry Bureau distributed everything. In addition to rice, flour, oil, peanuts, and sugar, each employee was also given five kilograms of hairtail.
I don’t know which brother unit the Forestry Bureau exchanged wood for.
Not to mention that many people want to work as workers in the Forestry Bureau. It is true that the benefits are great.
With these, the Xu family doesn't need to buy anything else.
Xu Shiyan took time out and followed Han Limin to Tonghua to sell the bear bile and musk they had caught in the mountains.
The musk was more expensive than bear bile, but it was lighter in weight. So it was sold for more than three thousand dollars.
Xu Shiyan said that he only needed one-third, but Han Limin disagreed, and finally gave Xu Shiyan two-fifths.
After receiving 1,300 yuan, Xu Shiyan had to go to Tonghua Department Store to buy some things for his family to take back.
Clothes, shoes, fabrics, and some daily necessities, just buy whatever suits you.
Some require tickets, but it doesn't matter, there are people selling tickets outside department stores.
As long as you are willing to pay, you can get any ticket.
Finally, I took a big bag of stuff home.
When Xu Chenghou met, he had to talk to him again, saying that he thought Xu Shiyan didn't know how to live a good life and spent his money frivolously.
Whatever the father said, Xu Shiyan heard it in one ear and then in another, and didn't take it to heart at all.
He just threw the fabric to Xu Shiqin and Su Anying and asked them to hurry up and make clothes.
This is not difficult. Xu Shiqin is in charge of cutting and Su Anying is in charge of doing it.
Su Anying has learned a lot from her sister-in-law in the past six months. She is very good at sewing clothes and can sew clothes easily.
The two sisters worked together and quickly made new clothes for the whole family.
It is said that whether you have money or not, you can marry a daughter-in-law to celebrate the New Year. Since the Chinese New Year is approaching, there are many people getting married.
Apart from anything else, there are several teams in the second brigade. Xu Shiyan is called to help every day and has a wedding banquet. Su Anying is also called away at every turn to help with the cooking.
Fortunately, Zhou Guilan is still at home, Xu Haiyuan can now eat chicken cakes and millet porridge.
Even though his mother wasn't at home, he didn't look for her either. At least Su Anying could help her with peace of mind.
On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhou Qingguo got married.
Speaking of which, it was quite a coincidence that Zhou Qingguo found his wife.
When winter first came, Zhou Qingguo's mother, Mrs. Li, fell and broke her arm.
Zhou Qingguo accompanied his mother to the hospital, and for some reason, he fell in love with the doctor on duty at the hospital.
After Li's arm healed and she was discharged from the hospital, Zhou Qingguo established a romantic relationship with her.
Previously, Zhou Zhang and Chengtian were worried about their son talking about his wife, because they were afraid that one son would not like the other one and he would be single.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Qingguo found a good partner, had a job to earn wages, and was pretty good-looking.
Zhou Changhe was afraid of having a long night and having many dreams, so he quickly found a matchmaker and went to the woman's house to propose marriage.
When the woman heard that Zhou Qingguo was demobilized from the army and was working as a security assistant in the commune, she was quite pleased with it.
So the two families found an opportunity to meet, got engaged directly, and then got married before the year before.
When Zhou Qingguo got married, many members of his family came over to attend the ceremony, help, and drink wedding wine. It was a lively affair until evening, when they went home.
This year is the New Year's Eve, the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, and the days can't help but go by. I'm so busy and unknowingly, the year is coming to an end again.
After the family is separated, the sons can not come back to celebrate the New Year together.
So this year, only the old couple, Xu Shiyan, Xu Shixiang, and Xu Shiqin spent New Year's Eve together.
Although there are fewer people, the New Year celebrations cannot be left behind.
It’s still hanging up lanterns and posting couplets in the morning, having a reunion dinner in the afternoon, and making dumplings in the evening to watch the New Year’s Eve.
After eating dumplings on New Year's Eve, the bell of the new year has also rang.
As the bells rang, Xu Shiyan and his wife hugged their children, and Xu Shixiang, Xu Shiqin and his brother and sister all came together to wish their parents New Year's greetings.
"Dad, Mom, happy New Year, I wish you and your parents good health, longevity, good luck and good luck."
Xu Chenghou and Zhou Guilan nodded with their mouths full of smiles.
"Okay, okay, everything is okay. You are all doing well too. Healthy and safe. As long as you are well, your parents will be fine."
The old couple couldn't say any fancy words, they only had a heart to love and protect their children.
"Come on, come on, bring my dear grandson over here. Grandpa has a red envelope here."
Xu Chenghou took out a red paper bag from his arms and waved to Xu Haiyuan.
Xu Haiyuan, who is more than nine and a half months old, is getting along particularly well with his grandfather these days.
As soon as I saw grandpa waving, I twisted my body, trying to break away from my mother's arms and go to find grandpa.
Su Anying couldn't hold her son, so she could only put him on the kang and let the child crawl.
Xu Haiyuan changed into a red satin double-breasted cotton-padded jacket and black trousers today. Xu Shiqin also specially made a melon skin hat made of the same material as the cotton-padded jacket.
Xu Haiyuan is already fair and chubby, but wearing this outfit, he looks more festive and prettier than the dolls in the New Year paintings.
Xu Chenghou held his grandson in his arms and kissed him several times.
"Here, this is the red envelope given by grandpa. It's a huge sum of money. Take it and don't lose it."
Xu Chenghou stuffed the red envelope into his grandson's hand and kissed his fleshy little hand.
Xu Haiyuan was so young that he naturally didn't understand what a red envelope was. He just looked at the red envelope and it looked pretty, so he grabbed it and refused to let go. He wouldn't give it to anyone who wanted it.
Zhou Guilan also quickly took out a red envelope and gave it to her grandson.
The little clever ghost climbed up to her grandma, raised her head, and kissed her, which made Zhou Guilan so happy that the wrinkles on her face deepened a lot.
In previous years, the old couple gave their grandchildren lucky money, which was not much, just 2 cents each.
So Xu Shiyan didn't care and let his son hold the red envelope in his hand and crawl on the bed.
In the past, all homes had Kang mats.
The kang mat is made of reeds with patterns on it, which can rub off clothes and even prick your hands if you're not careful.
A few days ago, Xu Shiyan went to Guo Shouye and asked for a lot of fiberboard.
Paint the front side, spread it on the kang, and seal the seams in the middle with cloth strips.
This kang bed is slippery and much better than the kang mat. It is not afraid of damaging Xu Haiyuan's trousers or pricking his tender little hands.
Xu Haiyuan, on the other hand, was still a little uncomfortable with it. The kang was too slippery and it was not difficult for him to climb up. He always slipped and slipped, which was also very interesting.
On New Year's Eve, the whole family had nothing to do but eat melon seeds, drink tea and chat.
In the end, they were all sleepy, so Xu Shiyan and his wife simply took their son back to the West Room to sleep.